My friend and I, we had this thing, it was called “The Code.” So the initial reason the code was developed is because my middle school had made a rule that we were going to do 10 minutes of silent reflection at the end of lunch. And our lunch was only 20 minutes long. So having to do 10 minutes of silent reflection during lunch to like, reflect on how the class had been misbehaving for the entirety of the Lenten Church season was a big ask. So, we wanted to develop our own sign language, and we didn't want to speak in normal sign language because that would be way too easy for the lunch staff to decipher what we were doing. And we also wanted to be able to talk without any of our friends knowing what we were saying, so we created this thing called the code. So I don't remember all of the hand symbols of the code, but essentially, we had written out everything on a small sheet of paper, but we needed a place to like hide our code like decipher key. So, we thought that it would be really funny to hide it like obviously somewhere that looks like it could be inconspicuous like in a piece of school supplies. And what we determined was the best was a glue stick, so we like used up the glue in the glue stick, and we took off the top, put the code in and then like, would put the like mostly empty glue stick top back on. So it looks like it was a normal glue stick. The other thing is, we would often have issues with the code getting stuck inside the glue stick. And I remember the only way to actually get the decipher key out of said glue stick is you had to like throw it at the wall a couple of times and then it would pop up. And there was our code. But yeah, honestly, we didn't really speak in it that much, but it became a whole game of our other friends trying to like, guess where we had hidden the code because they were aware of its existence but didn't know like where the decipher key was. So that was pretty fun.

In Tennessee, there are signs all over that said, "Beware of Bears." And then it would tell you not to leave food around and things, to avoid the bears. Well, there was -- we were on a car trail. You -- it was like a hiking trail, but you stayed in your car for eleven miles and saw really cool stuff. Well, up above us there was heavy traffic, foot traffic as well as car traffic. So we stopped to see what was going on. And we got out of the car, me and my mom. And there was a mama bear and three triplets, playing in the field. But there was a little wire, and it's like the bear knew where that wire was and totally ignored us taking pictures of them, of her and her babies. Until this one man saw the bears, saw the wire, picked his three-year-old up, and put him over the wire and then joined him. Now there's nothing between him and the bear, and the bear got interested. Everybody was screaming at him to get his child out of there. This is a mama bear with three babies, and he’s putting his child in there like it's a stuffed animal. Everybody's screaming for him to get out of there. Finally, his mother, screaming to get his grandch- -- get her grandchild out of there did it for him, and he left there. "I just wanted to get a picture with the bears," he said. I never saw such stupidity in all my life.

In my first, like serious full-time job after college, I was working in the admissions office. And a – my -- I  guess was I still dating him then? A friend, or boyfriend, or whatever came to visit me, and I took the day off or afternoon off and we went to a movie in the middle of the day. And the reason that stands out to me is that it felt -- really thrilling? And really, um, sort of like countercultural. You know kind of like I was doing something wrong. Which made it really exciting, and it was very atypical for me. I mean, I'm, I'm very -- I don't always stay on task, but I do tend to like show up, you know, I tend to be responsible and, um, and I thought about that like since even since then, it is really rare for me to take a day off just because. I feel like it's ingrained in people, in my generation, that, you know, if you're taking a day off from work, even if you -- even if there's a policy at your workplace that makes it completely okay to do this, like, there has to be a good reason. You know, like it's a sick day, you're feeling sick or you're going on vacation, you know, or somebody's coming to work on the house and you have to let them in or, you know, whatever. But just to take the day off, because you felt like it? Or you wanted to go do something fun or frivolous? Just seemed like, you know, you're breaking some kind of rule.

Um, one thing I -- one notable time I remember, we were doing a puzzle at my mom's. It was many years ago, before I had kids. I probably was married, but I don't think I had any kids yet. And we um, at Christmas time, my mom had set up a puzzle in the living room and -- ‘cause there was family coming in and stuff and it was something to do together, and it was a puzzle of a quarter. And so it was kinda tricky because it was all pretty, very much the same color. And I worked and worked and worked and worked on that puzzle. And my brother worked on it and my mom worked on it, and my sister-in-law, she would stand there looking at it but she never put any pieces in. She couldn't seem to, you know, she couldn't see where pieces went. She would look at it and then she'd wander off and do something else. Well, we, uh, worked on that puzzle for quite a while. And finally we got it done, except there was one piece missing. And I was like, "Ah, man, I hate that, when you get to the end of the puzzle and it turns out there's a piece missing." Well, lo and behold, who had that piece but my sister-in-law, that instead of putting any pieces in, she took one so that she could put in the last piece. And that was a really good lesson for me to never ever work on a puzzle with her again. ‘Cause she played dirty.

My sister and her husband are part of a group that puts on live music shows in northern Michigan. And once a year, sometimes twice a year, my sister and her husband host one at their home. And most of them are in a building in this, in the town. So anyway, when she, when they have the ones at their house I usually go to those, and I like to go early so that we can talk and she likes to show me around her yard and so on and so forth. So, she and I were looking around her yard talking about stuff, and, and this other car pulls in. And it was another lady who was there to go to the concert. And, she got out of the car. She brought up a tray full of treats. And so we all made our way back inside. Um, and I had been -- so my sister and I and this lady were in my sister's kitchen and I was humming, as I often do. And all of a sudden, she says, "Are you humming 'This Old Man?'" And I said, "Yeah, I guess I was." And all -- then she breaks into song! I mean loud -- singing loudly, snapping her fingers, waving her arms around. And my sister and I are not, you know, participating in this. And all of a sudden she stops and she pretends she can't remember the next verse. I'm sure she was hoping that, you know, my sister and I would join in, which we were not going to do. And I think she finally sang the next verse herself and then stopped, thank goodness. And, uh, I don't know, she was just kind of one of those loud, obnoxious, "I gotta be the center of attention" kinda people, and I kind of avoided her the rest of the evening. Don't care for people like that, thank you very much.

For the past 14 years, I have been living with a service animal. I am profoundly deaf. And, in 2011, I flew out to [conference for hearing ear dogs], so that is when I met and got teamed up with Gertie Aster, my hearing ear dog. Gertie was half labrador retriever, half golden retriever, and the best of both breeds. I was very surprised during the fourteen years that we lived together at how much she really understood about what was going on. She understood more English than the words to which she had been trained. Gertie turned fourteen years old on June the 24th -- I’m sorry, I misspoke, so she was 16 years old on June the 24th.  Gertie had been failing for the past year. Two nights ago, Gertie could not stand at all. This was shortly after dinner. This was a big problem because Gertie weighed 55 pounds and I was not strong enough to pick her up and carry her outside and place her in the nice green grass where she could defecate and urinate, which she usually wanted to do after eating a meal.  So, I decided to put out a training pad for dogs, and I managed to get it under her back end, and I left her on the living room floor to spend the night on the floor. So, in the morning, when I got up, I discovered that she had defecated and she had urinated on herself on the floor in the living room. I called the veterinarian when the clinic opened at 8:30 and I asked if they would allow her to come in on an emergency basis, and I explained the problem with Gertie. It’s a good thing I called ahead, because the receptionist said that the main veterinarian there, who has been Ger -- Gertie’s veterinarian, was off duty. But I was asked to leave my phone number and the receptionist knew someone who could be called in on an emergency basis to fill in for the main veterinarian who was taking the day off.  So, I got a call back in about 15 minutes and they said, “Have Gertie here at 10 am,” so I called my first cousin who is also a very dear friend, and I also asked [friend] if she would be able to go with me to the clinic because I said, “I…

On the day before my daughter was born, my mother took me to my doctor’s appointment. And my husband had to go to work one more day before I was supposed to have the baby, and I had been told that if we didn’t go into labor before Friday, th -- I was going to be induced. So, I had to go and have -- to get one more checkup and check-in and all the rest of the stuff, and my mother took me. And the doctor told me that, you know, I was ready to go, but I just hadn’t got to a certain point yet and labor hadn’t started and everything. And he said, “You need to go someplace and walk.” Well, it was about forty degrees and pouring rain. And so, obviously I wasn’t going to be walking outside, so my mother said, “Let’s go to the [mall name].” We were close -- the hospital was close [to] there, so we went to the mall. And she said, “We’ll get, we’ll get lunch there, and we can start our Christmas shopping.” And -- because she said, “Besides, you know, you should start it now because once you’ve had the baby you’re not gonna feel like going out and doing Christmas shopping.”  So, my mother and I started our Christmas shopping that day, and it was really funny. She had me walking back and forth on bo -- all ends of that mall and everything else. And when she took me home and she stayed until my husband got home from work, and then she went home and she said, “I’ll see you at the hospital tomorrow.” And I said, “Are you com -- when are you coming?” And she said, “Oh, I’ll come when you call me, or when [diarist’s husband] calls me.” And so I -- we, you know, went on with everything, had dinner and watched TV and all that kind of stuff, and it was kinda crazy because my husband said -- when we went to bed, he said -- well, he said, “I’m gonna take a shower and everything because we’ll just get up in the morning and go.” And I went, “Okay. Alright. Do that.”  So, we went to bed, and he laid his, his wallet and his keys someplace where it wouldn’t be difficult for him to find them. He put…